China rocking

A 'Music Valley' is among plans to boost the music industry. From the top of a hillside in Pinggu village, an hour's drive from central Beijing, the future of China's music industry doesn't look like much – just a vista of Mao-era farmhouses and parched cabbage fields. Yet Beijing officials have announced plans to spend more than 10 years and £1.4bn turning the area into the "China Music Valley", a sprawling compound that will be home to recording studios, instrument makers, music schools, five-star hotels and an arena in the shape of a peach. "Culture is the lifeblood of a nation," President Hu Jintao said at the start of the country's once-in-a-decade leadership transition.

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